


Focus on the Failures

by Lostkid



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Nebula being an absolute mess when it comes to emotions, Slightly - Freeform, girls just being gay, not that much comfort tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 22:17:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16900854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lostkid/pseuds/Lostkid
Summary: She knew what was happening; she’d been told over and over for years what he was going to do once he collected them all. She just never thought that she’d be spared. She never thought that the one she loved wouldn’t be.





	Focus on the Failures

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick note, yes, I changed the some of the dialogue and order of some events around slightly to fit the narrative I was going for but hey, there’s also a reason that I’m not a professional scriptwriter (several reasons, actually)
> 
> This could sort-of be a prequel to “Stranded”? They’re both based on canon events though so you technically don’t have to read both.

The other Guardians and the Terrans talked quietly in the distance, blurring into nothing as Mantis focused on Nebula in front of her. They were both sitting, Nebula leaning her back on a large hunk of metal, and Mantis hesitantly sitting on her knees beside her.

“You feel pain....but you are...relieved? Also...angry...” Mantis furrowed her brow as she stared at the dirt on the ground, focusing on Nebula’s emotions. The cyborg’s hand was so tightly held in her own that she couldn’t discern which one of them was trembling slightly.

“Yeah, well...of course I’m angry. We failed.” Nebula tilted her head up, but due to her black scleras Mantis couldn’t tell whether she was meeting her eyes. “I’m relieved that...that he didn’t...didn’t kill you.”

Mantis wasn’t offended by the other woman’s hesitation; she wasn’t exactly the most open with her feelings.  Even when letting Mantis read her emotions, there were many walls built up, some due to trauma, some due to the robotic enhancements in the cyborg’s head. It actually hurt a little, to read Nebula’s emotional state, but it was hardly anything she couldn’t deal with. Hell, she’d managed to almost put Thanos to sleep for a few minutes, which, honestly, had taken most of her energy. Thanos has fought her control, something she wasn’t used to and was barely prepared to handle. But she was almost proud of herself. Almost.

But Nebula? Nebula was surprisingly accepting of Mantis’ abilities. Or had been, after a few weeks on the ship after defeating Ego. Mantis had only offered once, as Gamora had been less than tolerant of her attempt to read the other’s mind, and she assumed that Nebula would be the same. But, surprisingly, she wasn’t.

Oh...Gamora.

“You feel pain over your sister-“

“Don’t. Not now, please,” Nebula muttered, glancing away then turning back to look at Mantis’s bleeding arm, “Does it hurt?”

“Everyone is hurting,” Mantis answered, looking dazed, “ _All_ the time, no one feels happiness anymore. I can feel it, everyone is afraid, and _angry_ , and-“

——————

Grabbing Mantis as she began to tremble probably wasn’t a good idea, as she began to shake more, and tears began to shine against the black of her eyes. Nebula hesitated then let go of her arms, feeling unsure what to do. She’d never comforted anyone before, not genuinely, anyway.

“I’m sorry...” Mantis’ breath hitched, “Everything is so _loud_.”

“I know, I know.” Nebula murmured, pulling Mantis into a slightly awkward embrace. She still wasn’t sure how hugging worked. “Just focus on me, try to focus on my thoughts.”

It was a struggle to find any positive emotions within her, especially immediately after losing her sister and letting her father take another Infinity Stone. Nebula attempted to remember her home planet; her younger brother and sisters playing in the star-dotted fields, learning to read with her mothers, building her first battery without any help. She thought of the nights when Gamora would comfort her after a lost battle, rare as those instances were. It’d only happened a few times, early on, before Gamora had become prouder and prouder, more determined to win, to survive. She tried not to think about that part. She remembered days on the ship where Mantis would visit her while she was upgrading her personal ship, asking how she was and what she was doing. It’d been irritating at first, but after a while their conversations had lengthened, and she’d even begun to look forwards to Mantis’ visits. Of course, when any of the others (minus Gamora) were around, she’d keep her defences up - cold and distant.

It took a few minutes, but Mantis slowly began to relax in her arms, moving her head from where it was buried in Nebula’s neck to rest her chin on the other’s shoulder. Nebula breathed a sigh of relief, glancing over to check that none of the others could see them. They’d probably accuse her of trying to attack Mantis or something.

“Thank you,” Mantis pulled away, smiling, and god, it was times like these where Nebula wished that she could properly smile back. She’d lost that ability the long time ago.

She heard one of the Terrans speaking in he distance, sounding angry. Mantis blinked at her, looking over her shoulder towards where the metal man was glaring at the wizard.

“You know, not that I don’t appreciate you saving my life but that was literally the worst _goddamn_ decision you could’ve made,” he grunted, using his suit’s technology to seemingly seal the stab wound in his abdomen. “Also, I _don’t_ appreciate it.”

“But Mr Stark-“

“Not the time, Pete, not when Dumbledore over here’s just decided to fuck over the _entire_ universe for _no_ reason.”

“Tony...” the wizard seemed to be in pain, or discomfort at least, and his final words barely manage to escape him-

“It was the only way.”

-before his form crumbled into dust.

The metal man, Quill and the spider boy all recoiled, stumbling backwards, the latter rushing forwards to cautiously stare at the dust in what seemed like worry and morbid curiosity. Mantis leaned slightly forward to look closer at the scene, hand still gripped in Nebula’s.

“Shit, I didn’t...is that...is he...” the metal man breathed out sharply.

Nebula knew. Of course she did. Thanos had always spoken, -arrogant and short-sighted as he was- about how he’d cleanse half the universe, about how he’d leave behind only a trail of dust, so that bodies wouldn’t litter the streets. He’d thought that was kind.

But if he’d already gotten all the stones, then that meant they only had a few moments before at least few more of them would turn to ash. And she knew who Thanos hated the most out of all of them. She assumed that her demise was inevitable.

_For the first time, I don’t think I want to die._

“Mantis,” putting a hand under the other woman’s chin, she pulled her gaze to meet her own, “I...I don’t think he’ll spare me, so I need to say...I need to tell you...”

Words failed her as she reached for them, but something else reached back, and she looked down to see and feel Mantis holding her hands, eyes glassy. She didn’t even need to ask whether the empath was using her powers; she seemed to know exactly how Nebula was feeling as she leaned forwards and kissed her.

_Oh_.

It wasn’t exactly what she’d imagined kissing to feel like, but it was certainly pleasant. Enough to make her forget for a few moments that she was on a barren wasteland of a planet after being tortured and defeated yet again by her father, having just lost her sister, and that she was probably moments from crumbling to dust like the wizard.

She didn’t want to let go of Mantis, but the other woman pulled away, eyes wide and staring up at Nebula.

“Something’s happening...” she mumbled, and the light pressure wrapped around her hands faded, ash falling onto her lap. She panicked, trying to wrap her arm around Mantis, but going right through her as the other woman turned to dust before her eyes, the panicked look on her face being the last thing Nebula saw of her.

_No_... _that_ _wasn’t_ _meant_ _to_ _happen_!

She didn’t move. She couldn’t. Vaguely, in her peripheral vision, she could see the sight of more ash falling from where the Guardians and Terrans were, but couldn’t find the motivation to turn her head. She stared at the pile of dust before her for so long that, if she still had her original eyes, they might’ve started watering. Or that could just be because that’s what people usually did when they see someone they care about die. They cried. At least, if they had the physical capability to.

_Please_ , _pleasedon’t_ _spare_ _me_ , _I_ _can’t- you_ _can’t_ _leave_ _me_ _here_ _with_ _nothing_ , _father_ , _please_ , _please_.....

“Come back...” she heard herself saying, in a voice that sounded far too young, far too naive. One she hadn’t used in a very long time, “Come _back_!” She hissed her words, and might’ve felt guilty if not for the fact that she was painfully aware that she was now talking to a pile of dirt.

The air felt so much denser now, like tar surrounding her, choking her and freezing her in place. She wasn’t dying; she’d been spared, and yet she couldn’t breathe. They had all disappeared except for the metal man, but she found that she really couldn’t care about him. Because Mantis was gone. Thanos had taken everything from her, even Quill and Drax, whom she’d slightly tolerated. Maybe that was his intention, to punish her even further. Or maybe it truly was random, and she was the “lucky” one. Nebula wasn’t sure which option she hated less.

She was going to _tear Thanos apart._

**Author's Note:**

> So that Avengers 4 trailer huh!! Almost cried when I watched it, which would’ve been awkward since I was in uni at the time it was posted. Anyway I’m hopefully gonna write something based on it (*cough*probablyaboutTonyagain *cough*), but I wanted to post this fic that I’d written a while ago for a friend who’s obsessed with the Nebula/Mantis ship. 
> 
> Can you tell which Doctor Who episode influenced this fic? I’ve been binging it so....yeah


End file.
